Q. I have heard a lot of bad things about vanity presses and
self-publishing companies. What makes Inscript Books different?A. The main criticism of vanity presses and self-publishing companies is that they do not exercise any discretion or prudence
in selecting the books that they publish. A typical vanity press will accept any book that is presented to them, with no regard for the quality of the book. They can do this because they are being paid upfront for the book and have already made their money by the time the book is finalized for publication. So, they have no incentive to be picky. Every book represents a profit for them, even if the book does not sell any copies.

Inscript Books is one of a handful of self-publishing companies that are trying to
counteract the negative reputation of the self-publishing industry. We do this by publishing only books that are marketable in content, are grammatically and stylistically free of errors, have professional-quality book covers, and will be perceived by the industry as indistinguishable from
those published by major publishing companies. For this reason, we will be selective and will not accept every book that is presented to us. Also, as a Christian company, we have a responsibility to publish only those books that are compatible with biblical and evangelical Christian principles, and
we are committed to fair, moral and ethical practices in all areas of our business.

Q.How can I submit a manuscript to your company?A. Just click
on the
Submit a Manuscript link and provide all of the information
requested. You should have a completed manuscript ready at the time
you fill out the form.

Q.This company has a self-publishing
imprint and a traditional publishing imprint. What's the
difference between the two?A. The main difference involves the
selection criteria. With the Inscript imprint, we are more likely to
accept authors who are new, do not have a strong social media platform,
or have
a niche product with limited appeal.

Q.
How long will it take before my book is finished and ready for sale?A. Depending on the amount of work involved in fine-tuning the manuscript and cover design, we can get a book completed within two months of receiving the manuscript and all other required information from the author. Upon request and for an additional fee, the book can be expedited so that it is completed within one month.

Q.Under the Inscript imprint,
who is the "official" publisher of the book, Inscript, or the
author?A. With true self-publishing, the author is the official publisher and owns and controls all aspects of the publishing process from writing to distribution. The author may engage a self-publishing company to facilitate some or all of the process. However, in many self-published books, two elements may identify the book with a publisher other than the author: the ISBN, and the imprint. The ISBN is issued by R.R. Bowker in the United States and is a method to identify an edition of a book. It is a type of social security number for books. The imprint is the trade name or brand name under which a book is published. Authors can provide both ISBN and imprints of their own, but some, as a part of their contracts with self-publishing companies, choose to use the ISBN and imprint of the company. Neither of these, however, necessarily means that the company is the publisher of the book.

Q.If I
decide to turn my book over to another company after publishing with
you, can I do that?A. Absolutely. There are no long-term
commitments. The book is yours, the production files are yours, and you can
use them however and whenever you desire. Our contracts are
non-exclusive, which means you can choose us as your self-publishing
company, and choose another at the same time. It is up to you.

Q. What are the
specifications of books that you offer?A. We offer various
trim sizes, ranging from 5"x7" to 8.5"x11", in paperback with black and white interiors. Color interiors
and hardcovers require
special custom-quoted pricing. E-Books are produced in
PDF, MOBI, and ePub formats.

Q. How much do
you charge?A. See our
pricing
brochure for more information about
our prices, fees and royalties.

Q.Will I receive a proof?A. Yes,
you will receive both a physical proof and an e-Book proof of your book
for approval before finalizing. A proof is an exact copy of the final
version of the book and will be identical to the version customers
receive.

Q.How much input will I have in the
book publishing process?A. A
lot. It is your book, so it should look how you want it to look.
However, we will make suggestions that are intended to enhance the
quality of the publication and make it more market-ready. However, you
have the final say, and you can either accept or reject our suggestions.

Q. What form of payment do you accept?
A. We accept check, MasterCard, VISA, and Paypal. We do not
accept cash payments.

Q.Do you have
payment plans?A. Yes. However, with any payment plan,
all payments must be made before the release of the production files to
the author and the shipment of author copies.

Q.
You've mentioned production files several times. What
are these files and what does the author do with them?A. Production files are the raw files that
are sent to the printer to produce your book. They typically consist of
a PDF file of the full book cover, a PDF file of the interior pages of
the book, a JPG file of the barcode, an RTF file that is used to produce
the e-Book version, and copies of the e-Book in MOBI, PDF, and ePub
formats.

Q. What is your refund policy?A. Base price services, minus a $100
administrative fee, are refundable until the approval of the final
proof. After proof approval, no refunds or guarantees are given for
base price services. There are also no refunds or guarantees on
optional services except in the case of breach of contract.

Q. What type of printing process do you use to print your
books?A. The majority of our books are
printed using a technology called Print on Demand (POD). POD is a
digital printing method that makes it easier and cost-effective to print
as little as one book at a time, rather than the hundreds of copies
often required to make offset printing cost-effective. POD books are
printed as they are ordered, eliminating the need for businesses to
maintain an inventory of these books. However, in some cases, depending
on the format and size of the book, it is more cost-effective to use
offset printing. In this case, we will use offset for a small percentage
of our books.

Q. What
is the history of Inscript Books?A.
Inscript was started in July 2017 as an imprint of
Dove Christian
Publishers, a traditional publisher that has been in business since
1998. As a traditional publisher, Dove rejects almost 50% of the
manuscript proposals it receives, mostly because the author could not
demonstrate the ability to sell enough books to make the cost investment
worthwhile, or because of poor editing or questionable content. However,
we have discovered that some authors would be willing to make the
upfront investment in their books if we worked with them and applied our
expertise to help bring a quality product to market. To give these
authors the opportunity to become published, Inscript was established.